What it is
Movies in the dark. The TV will be used for watching movies in a controlled environment, directly in front, in a home theater way. Mostly only high quality content, like Blu-rays, UHD Blu-rays, streaming and a little bit of HDR.

What it is
TV Shows in a bright living room. The TV will be used in to watch TV shows, in a bright room during the day, from multiple viewing positions at different angles. The content watched has an average quality: cable, streaming, SD channels, etc.

What it is
Video games. The TV will be used to play video games, directly in front, in a controlled light environment. Usually fast games, like online FPS, where motion blur and input lag is important.

What it is
HDR Gaming. The TV will be used to play HDR video games using consoles that support it or on current generation gaming PCs. Xbox One S, PS4 Pro, GTX 10 series and AMD RX series graphics cards.

The Samsung KS8500 4k UHD LED is a very good versatile TV. It offers great picture quality for movies and HDR content, has great motion handling and is very responsive for video games. It is a good fit even in the brightest living room as it can get very bright and deals well with reflections. Unfortunately, its picture deteriorates when viewed from the side.

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Design

The Samsung KS8500 has a very sleek and simple design. The stand has a shiny chrome finish and the back of the TV is glossy. Despite the curved screen, the TV doesn't appear thick and the borders are also very thin.

Stand

Footprint of the 55" TV stand: 43.3" x 9.2"

The TV feels sturdy on the two simple chrome finished legs.

On the 65" TV there are reports of an alternate middle stand position, similar to the KS8000

Back

Wall Mount
:
Vesa 400x400

The back of the KS8500 is all black and glossy.

Borders

Borders
:
0.35" (0.9 cm)

The pixels don't reach the very edge of the screen but the borders are very thin.

Thickness

Max Thickness
:
2.52" (6.4 cm)

Very thin TV, although it appears thicker when viewed from a 90 degree angle because of the curved screen.

The KS8500 has great picture quality. Dark scenes impress with the deep blacks, great uniformity and bright highlights. The TV supports HDR 10 and benefits from the more vivid picture. Low resolution sources such as DVDs display well, and higher quality content benefits from the high resolution display. Can get very bright and deals with reflections well.

Good value:
Full-array/direct lighting is better for local dimming. As for the uniformity of the screen, it depends on the implementation. Some edge-lit TVs have more uniform blacks than some full-array TVs.

Local dimming on the KS8500 is almost identical to the non-curve KS8000. When local dimming is activated, it produces blooming around bright highlights and on a big vertical column. When watching regular movies or HDR content, you will still get some very deep blacks and very bright highlights when local dimming ('Smart LED') is activated.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity the TV can obtain while playing a movie or while watching a TV show. This scene was selected to represent a more regular movie condition. All measurement are made with the TV set to be as bright as possible, but with a 6500k white. Measured with local dimming, max backlight and over SDR signal. Scene: here.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 2% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

When it matters:
Bright highlights, present on screen for a short time; especially for SDR content.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 10% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

When it matters:
Bright objects, present on screen for a short time; especially for SDR content.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 25% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 50% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 100% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 2% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

When it matters:
Bright highlights, persistent throughout a scene; especially for SDR content.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 10% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

When it matters:
Bright objects, persistent throughout a scene; especially for HDR content.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 25% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 50% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 100% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over SDR signal.

The KS8500 is very bright even when watching standard SDR content, which is good since some other TVs are sometimes much less bright with SDR content versus HDR content. This test was done with 'Smart LED' set to 'High.'

What it is:
The maximum luminosity the TV can obtain while playing a movie or while watching a TV show. This scene was selected to represent a more realistic movie condition. All measurement are made with the TV set to be as bright as possible, but with a 6500k white. Measured with local dimming, max backlight and over HDR signal. Scene: here.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 2% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

When it matters:
Bright highlights, present on screen for a short time; especially for HDR content.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 10% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

When it matters:
Bright objects, present on screen for a short time; especially for HDR content.

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 25% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 50% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

What it is:
The maximum luminosity, even if only maintained for a short time, of a white square covering 100% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 2% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

When it matters:
Bright highlights, persistent throughout a scene; especially for HDR content.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 10% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

When it matters:
Bright objects, persistent throughout a scene; especially for HDR content.

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 25% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 50% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

What it is:
The lowest maximum luminosity (usually after it has stabilized) of a white square covering 100% of the screen, with the TV set to be as bright as possible. Measured with local dimming and over HDR signal (if supported).

The KS8500 screen can get very bright. It is about as bright as the other KS series TVs, including the higher end model KS9500. On a static image, the maximum brightness drops to around 500 cd/m² over time. Like the other TVs in the Samsung SUHD line, we did this test with 'Smart LED' set to 'High' and with a HDR signal.

The gray uniformity is quite similar to the KS8000. The vertical edges of the screen are slightly darker, and the horizontal edges slightly brighter. Overall it is quite a good result for an LED and should not be an issue.

Out of the box, the Samsung TV had some issues with both the Gamma as well as the White Balance dE. The Gamma had a unpleasant curve, and the White Balance dE lacked blue, and had too much green and red. As for the Colors, the Color dE was at an acceptable level.

Reflections are dealt with very well on the KS8500. Direct reflections appear stretched because of the curved screen, and there is a purple tint similar to the LG OLEDs. This is the only TV from the KS series we have seen with the purple anti reflective coating. Reflections are very faint and should not be an issue for most environments.

Motion

The Samsung KS8500 is pretty good when it comes to handling motion. During fast movements, objects remain quite clear with no visible trail following. Movies are experienced without judder from any source. Motion interpolation works well, up to the panels native refresh rate of 120 Hz.

The response time of this TV is pretty low, with very little overshoot present. A small faint trail can be seen behind the Rtings logo, but nothing too dramatic. This is slightly better than the Samsung KS8000, mostly due to the 20% to 80% transition. As with other Samsung TVs, the backlight is controlled via a flickering PWM.

When playing 24p content over any source there are options which remove judder. For 60Hz signals, set 'Auto Motion Plus' to 'Custom' and both sliders to 0 to remove judder without adding the soap opera effect (SOE)

Since this TV is 120Hz, 'Auto Motion Plus' can be used on 30Hz and 60Hz signals. This will add the soap opera effect (SOE). Low custom values will work well to smooth out motion with a minimum of the soap opera effect.

For gaming, set the input icon to 'Game Console' and enable 'Game' mode from the special viewing modes. This is a very similar result to the other TVs in the KS series and should be great for most people. When sending and HDR signal under game mode with an 1080p resolution, the input lag is 22.6ms.

Enable 'HDMI UHD Color' to accept a 4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 signal. Chroma support at up to 4k results in better defined text in certain situations. Although the KS8500 has a 120Hz panel, it does not display a 120Hz signal.
When setting the input to PC, there is 39.5ms input lag.

Smart Features

Just like other 2016 Samsung TVs, this TV also comes with the latest Tizen operating system. That means that you will experience a very smooth and responsive smart interface performance. You will also have many supported applications available such as Netflix, Youtube, and Amazon Video. In terms of inputs, this TV offers many inputs, but lacks the compatibility of both component in and composite in, making it difficult to plug older devices that do not support HDMI.

When a new device is detected (such as when a computer is woken from sleep while plugged into an HDMI port) the TV automatically switches to this device. This may be an annoyance if you are watching other content at the time.

Apps

The most popular applications such as Netflix, Youtube and Amazon Video are supported by this TV. You also have many other applications that can be downloaded from the store.

Basic TV controls can be accessed underneath the bottom right of the TV. It can easily be accessed if the TV is wall mounted.

Remote

Remote
:
Smart

The remote is identical to that of the Samung KS8000. It also is simple and comfortable, allowing users to easily navigate through the Tizen interface. It also sports a microphone to send voice commands to the TV.

In The Box

One Connect Box

One Connect Box Cable

Screen cleaner

Remote

Batteries

Wall mount spacers/adapters

Manuals

Misc

Power Consumption
:
52 W

Power Consumption (Max)
:
139 W

Firmware
:
1112

Differences between Sizes and Variants

We tested the 55" (UN55KS8500) version FA01. For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the other sizes.

If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung KS8500 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.

The Samsung KS8500 is a great versatile TV but is hard to justify when its little sister, the non-curved version KS8000, offers almost the same picture quality and is sold for cheaper. Keep that in mind with our recommendations below.

The Samsung KS8000 is almost the same TV, however without the curved screen. This is a personal preference since it doesn't really matter (see curved vs flat) and the picture quality is otherwise almost exactly the same, but at a lower price so the KS8000 is the better buy.

The Vizio P 2016 has slightly lower input lag for playing video games and better local dimming for watching movies in the dark. However, it is a bit worse in a living room as it doesn't handle reflections as well. It is also worse with low quality content such as cable TV and DVD but available at a much lower price.

The Samsung KS9500 offers near identical picture quality, however looks higher end and feels better quality. The speakers sound slightly better, but are still not as good as a cheap sound bar. It does not offer enough advantages for the much higher price.

What it is
Movies in the dark. The TV will be used for watching movies in a controlled environment, directly in front, in a home theater way. Mostly only high quality content, like Blu-rays, UHD Blu-rays, streaming and a little bit of HDR.

What it is
TV Shows in a bright living room. The TV will be used in to watch TV shows, in a bright room during the day, from multiple viewing positions at different angles. The content watched has an average quality: cable, streaming, SD channels, etc.

Excellent for TV shows in a bright living room. Content looks clear from a range of resolutions. Handles reflections well and bright enough to compete with glare. Unfortunately picture quality degrades when viewed from the side.

What it is
Video games. The TV will be used to play video games, directly in front, in a controlled light environment. Usually fast games, like online FPS, where motion blur and input lag is important.

The Xbox One S allows for HDR gaming. How would this work if you say that the KS8000 or KS8500 needs to be in movie mode to activate HDR. We need to be in game mode to get the lowest input lag. Does this mean we have to game in movie mode? Is this a flaw with this TV that movie mode is required. What happens when the next console updates call for 4k HDR gaming. This TV will be unable to support HDR gaming?

The KS8000 or KS8500, can display HDR content even when in game mode. To correctly display HDR when 'Game Mode' is activated, you need to set the 'Color Space' to 'Native', put the backlight to max and set 'Smart LED' to max.

There is a new option in the 'Special Viewing Mode' called 'HDR+ Mode'. What does it exactly do and do you recommend enabling it?

Yes, there is now an option in 'Special Viewing Mode' that is called HDR+ mode. This was actually a recent update that Samsung has pushed out to its KS series TVs. The purpose of the feature is to simulate HDR content. So what it basically does is that it converts SDR to HDR. We do not advise enabling, as it over-saturates and over-contrast normal SDR content.

I am trying to decide between the KS9500 and the KS8500. Other than the price difference, is there a big difference between the two and which one would you recommend over the other?

The construction of KS9500 looks higher end and feels better quality, but beside that, there are both very close as for the image quality. If the design or your next TV is very important, then go with the KS9500. If not, go for the KS8500.

Just wanted to confirm that when you mention that it doesn't really activate HDR mode, does that mean that the TV both doesn't get brighter AND there is no wider color gamut? How good would it make this TV for HDR gaming?

From further testing, we have found that it does activate HDR mode. For HDR gaming, set the 'Special Viewing Mode' to 'Game' and backlight to max. Also set 'Smart LED' to 'High' and change the color space to 'Native'. With these settings, the TV detects the HDR input and uses the HDR PQ curve. It has the wide color gamut and high peak brightness. The input lag is 21.6ms.

I'm stuck between the KS8000 and the KS8500 I know they're basically the same just ones curved and the others not but since I'm the only one that uses the TV and I'll always be directly in front would the curve be worth it or have any viewing experience improvements over the flat model and I was also wondering if y'all measure the contrast with local dimming on or off and if you'd recommend using it. Thanks for your answer and y'alls great work on the site y'all are a big help

The curved screen is just a viewing preference, some people like it and some do not. It does not really affect the picture quality. In the case of the KS8000 and KS8500, they are basically the same TV with the same picture quality. Unless you have a preference for curved screens, go with the KS8000 as it's cheaper. We measure the contrast with local dimming off, as our score is intended to show how dark the pixels can get without extra enhancements. It shows more how the TV can handle dark scenes without crushing blacks. On the KS8000 the local dimming does help the picture so most people prefer it on for watching movies or HDR content. Note that some vertical blooming may be visible.

The Samsung KS8500 come with the Tizen smart OS, which offer a very good apps diversity. All the major applications such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video and you can download more from the store. Apple TV will only be necessary if you want to watch your iTunes content, since there is no apple applications available on the Samsung Tizen store.

Hi guys, thanks for all the effort you're putting into this. I just recently got this TV and I love it so far. I wonder which settings you would recommend for sports. When watching soccer on ESPN HD the ball gets "stretched" when kicked fast. Even the players seem to look weird when moving fast. I am on sport mode but I can't get rid of that. Thanks for your comments.

First, go in 'Expert Settings' and adjust 'Sharpness' to 0. After, go in 'Auto Motion Plus', and try to set it to off. If you still have some problem, set it too 'Custom' with 0 for both 'Blur Reduction' and 'Judder Reduction' and leaving 'LED Clear Motion' off. If it still persist after that, try some low value on 'Blur Reduction' and 'Judder Reduction'.

I just bought a UN65KS8500 and will be using it for 4k HDR gaming on my Xbox One S, and my PS4. Which picture settings would you recommend for HDR gaming in a dark room and is there a certain HDMI plug I need to use? Also does a 4k HDR receiver affect picture quality and input lag at all or should I plug directly into the TV?

Set the 'Special Viewing Mode' to 'Game', and then follow our settings shown here. Adjust the backlight to your preference, as well as the 'Color Tone'.

You can use any HDMI input as long as you enable 'HDMI UHD Color' for that input. A receiver should not affect the picture quality, and shouldn't increase the input lag if it can do 'pass through'. If you find issues, you can plug the consoles into the TV and the receiver into HDMI 4. You can then use ARC to play the sound through the receiver.

Hi. I currently own a JS8500 model from last year. I'm wondering if the new Tizen operating system is the only significant difference. Would you recommend a JS8500 owner to upgrade to the KS series? Why or why not?
Thank you guys for all your efforts.

There are some very small improvements to the picture quality due to the increased contrast ratio and better uniformity, but this is not very significant. The most important changes are the increased peak brightness which helps for highlights in HDR content and slightly lower input lag for gamers. Stick to the JS8500.

I really appreciate the information on your website, thank you. Recently I bought KS8500 55 inch. When I connected the One Connect cable it took about 6 tries before the TV recognized the One Connect. I also notice the rear side panel inputs was not tight and had some side to side movement. Is this common with this model? Thank you again.

We haven't noticed these specific issues before, but there have been complaints about the build quality of the Samsung KS* TVs. The back is glued on, and in some cases can become loose or unstuck over time.

I recently got an Xbox One S for UHD Blu-ray disc playback and noticed the need to raise the brightness to 48 to get more detail in the dark areas during HDR playback. I initially tried setting my HDMI black level to normal on the TV and PC RGB (full) on the console, but this gave the image a washed out look so I had to switch to limited RGB on both TV and console. I also noticed that the auto color space gives deeper colors than native does during HDR playback. My questions are: 1) are UHD Blu rays supposed to run with limited RGB or is something wrong with my console's full RGB output? 2) should I set my Xbox One S to a 10 bit or 12 bit color depth? 3) can I leave contrast at 100 for HDR or should I be using 95 just like in regular movie mode?

It seems that there is a bug with the dynamic range while playing UHD discs where it is not using the good range for UHD discs. On the Xbox One S, when the dynamic range is set to 'PC RGB', if you set the 'HDMI Black Level' to auto on the KS8500, it should display the good level of black. For the color depth, 10 or 12 bits should not make any difference, since the TV will automatically scale down the signal to what it can display automatically. For the contrast, you can leave it a 95 and it should be good for all your content, HDR or SDR alike.

On a side note, for HDR content, it is recommended to max out the backlight so you can see all the detail in really dark part of an image.

I have the Samsung 65ks8500 and while using the Xbox One S to play games there is an intermittent issue where a bar of screen distortion about an inch tall travels down the screen over a period of 4 seconds. I have set the color output of the Xbox to 10 bit, and have the uhd color on in the tv menu. What is happening here? Is something defective or do I have some setting to change?

We were unable to replicate the issue with our Xbox One S and 55KS8500, using your settings. It's unlikely a settings issue, it sounds like a hardware or connection problem. A few things to try:

Disconnect and reconnect every cable, including both ends of the power cables and both ends of the One Connect cable.

Use a different HDMI cable.

Try the Xbox with all the different HDMI inputs one at a time.

Play a different game.

If none of the above fix the problem then there might be a hardware defect, maybe in the One Connect box. To determine whether the defect is in the Xbox or not, try the Xbox with another TV or computer monitor. If it works fine then the problem is not in the Xbox, it’s in the TV. Contact Samsung customer support or the customer support of the retailer you bought the TV from, you may be able to get a repair under warranty.

Before taking the problem to customer service you can try to use different settings to better understand the problem: